[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning everybody. thursday march 7. ed for a to see you today. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. what if the -- the big question is what if they predicted a blizzard and not one snowflake fell? that's exactly what happened in washington, d.c. yesterday. and somehow it fits this city of broken promises. there is another one. a great big one. let's see on the news, president obama took some g.o.p. senators, a whole gang of them out to dinner last night at the jefferson hotel here in

washington, d.c. no word on who picked up the bill but i have a feeling that you and i did. hope they had a good time. after 12 hours and 52 minutes rand paul's bladder finally gave out. he finally had to take a pee. he was not at the dinner. he was doing a filibuster on the senate floor. a very appropriate filibuster, questioning the use of drones. what is our policy on drones and how can the attorney general of the united states say it is okay to use drones, not just to kill suspected terrorists or even american citizens on foreign soil, how can eric holder stay is okay to use drones to kill american citizens on u.s. soil? that was the subject of a hearing in the senate judiciary committee yesterday and the subject of rand paul's filibuster on the senate floor. so, we'll talk about all of that and a whole lot more coming up next on current tv.

support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern.

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you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: filibuster, a filibuster. we had a real filibuster yesterday! oh, my god how exciting. good morning everybody. what do you say? thursday march 7. welcome to the "full court press." here on your local progressive talk radio station. here on current tv and here on sirius x.m. this hour only. don't ask me why they only take one hour. that's their decision, not mine. stupid as it is. good morning, good morning, good

morning. we've got lots to talk about. lots that you are going to want to call in about. a lot of activity in the nation's capital yesterday. president obama taking a whole tassel of republicans out to dinner last night at the jefferson hotel. we'll tell you who was there. we don't know what they had to eat or what picked up the -- or who picked up the bill although i suspect you and i did. there was a big hearing in the senate judiciary committee yesterday on drones and yes there was a real filibuster conducted by senator rand paul of kentucky who is otherwise crazy but he was right on point yesterday. that was very, very exciting to watch. and across the country gabby giffords yesterday making a poignant very emotional appearance at the supermarket where she was shot a couple of years ago to make a plea for sensible gun control measures. so, we've got a lot on our plate this morning. good to have you with us. you are going to want to talk

about these issues, i know. that's what's fun about this "full court press." it is a two-way conversation. so give us a call if you want to sound off at 1-866-55-press. that's our toll free number. on twitter we are at bpshow, at bpshow. it's easy. and so many of you follow us now on twitter. that's great. or on facebook at fies -- facebook.com/billpressshow. go to current.com, click on the chat room. are you in. joining the entire team here, peter ogborn and dan henning. >> hey hey hey. >> good morning. >> happy thursday. >> bill: thanks for making it in through the snow. >> we've had a rough couple of days here in washington. everybody was very brave and you know, fighting through those --

terrible conditions. >> bill: it shows we can survive a blizzard. >> yesterday was unbelievable. >> bill: as long as there's not a blizzard. >> unbelievable. >> bill: phil backert has the phones and cyprian bowlding, the video cam. thank you cyprian. typical of this, right? now, this is yesterday afternoon. we talked about this yesterday morning that we were supposed to come to work in the blizzard and there wasn't any. it is still going to get worse and worse. i think i remember dan saying that. >> absolutely. >> i just want to say first of all, dan i accept your apology for ridiculing me on the air when i said we weren't going to get any snow and we were going to get a bunch of rain. it takes a big man to apologize and i accept your apology. >> what apology? >> bill: and then i must say he's not the only one that has to apologize. let's start with the stupid weatherman. how could they all get it wrong?

just so you know. there was some snow in the outlying suburbs where it is like hilly. >> out west, they got hit hard. >> bill: b.s. but in the city, nothing. yet they closed all the schools. they closed the federal government. they closed the city government. i mean it was just ridiculous. so yesterday morning we said still could get worse today. yesterday afternoon it's raining, it's clear. there ain't no storm. the mayor of washington, d.c., vincent gray goes on and says don't you dare leave the house. >> we obviously have closed the schools. we obviously have closed the government. the federal government is closed. but that should not be an invitation for people to go out. >> bill: whatever you do. don't go out. >> you know, so -- it was a small area that got hit hard. where i live, i live about 30 miles north of d.c. and a lot of people commute. but they were saying where i

live, we could gate foot of snow -- we could get a foot of snow. i got home yesterday afternoon maybe an inch was left. whatever did fall was washed away by the rain that we had. >> bill: i know. here in the district, nothing. what a line-up today. congressman chris van hollen on the budget committee. here in studio with us later. we'll bounce all the way to rome to talk to father thomas reese who is there watching the cardinals get ready to open their conclave to elect a new pope. and dylan buyers, media critic for politico been will be in studio to talk about the latest, roger ails from fox news saying he has ten more years to live so he's going to let it all fly. he did yesterday in an interview. yes, rand paul steps up to the plate on the drones with a filibuster but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press."

>> other headlines making news as you head out the door on this thursday, looks like duchess kate spilled the beans on the sex of her and prince william's upcoming baby. cbs reports kate middleton was given a teddy bear by a well-wisher during a rare public be appearance and told the person "thank you, i will take that for my d" and then immediately caught herself. it was obvious she was likely going to say daughter. >> they could have meant dog. >> the baby is due in july. >> entirely likely. >> bill: another little queen coming up. >> you got it. president obama whined and dined with a group of republican senators at a swank hotel just up the street from the white house last night but what they ate is being held as tight as a state secret. "the washington post" can only confirm that, indeed, president obama personally paid for the dinner.

personally. at the five-star jefferson hotel for the 12 senators which included tom coburn and john mccain who afterwards, both simply said that they enjoyed themselves. >> bill: of course john mccain and lindsey graham had to be there. you can't do anything without those two lovebirds. >> a big split in the media world. time-warner is spinning off its magazine division into a separate publicly-traded company called time incorporated. that, of course, includes "time" magazine along with "sports illustrated," instyle and style among others. people magazining about the number one in revenue the division only made up 12% of time-warner's revenue and was lag because of the change in people's media habits. >> bill: some of the magazines, i think are going to join "newsweek" pretty soon. no longer in print. yes, indeed. what a day yesterday. you know, i can't believe i'm going to say these words.

and you would never believe you would hear me say these words. it may be the only time i will say the words bravo rand paul. i think he's crazy as a loon but he stepped up to the plate yesterday when we needed somebody to step up to the plate. rand paul, in a couple of days. i say bravo this morning because he did put on a filibuster yesterday and he did it for the right reasons. so the filibuster started about 11:00 yesterday morning. rand paul in the tradition of strom thurmond, remember, longest in history back in the '50s 24 hours and 18 minutes he spoke on the senate floor. the last filibuster by the way real filibuster by bernie sanders, our good friend bernie sanders from vermont who on december 10, 2010, spoke for a

little over eight hours. over some tax measure that the senate was about to take up. but rand paul yesterday started speaking and he went on for 12 hours and 52 minutes. here's how he opened up. >> i rise today to begin to filibuster john brennan's nomination for the c.i.a. i will speak until i can no longer speak. i will speak as long as it takes until the alarm is sounded from coast-to-coast that our constitution is important. >> bill: i will speak -- in other words, he said, until i have to pee. about 12 hours and maybe 45 minutes to go -- after speaking for 12 hours and 45 minutes he finally said nature calls. >> he started doing the tap dance. >> i would go for another 12

hours to try to break strom thurmond's record but i've discovered there are some limits to filibuster and i'm going to have to go take care of one of those in a few minutes here. [ laughter ] >> bill: even after all of that time, there were senators in the chamber and some senators came up and they would ask a question, just sort of help him out. marco rubio did and some -- several freshmen senators. and then he finally threw in the towel so to speak. >> i thank you very much for the forbearance and i yield the floor. >> bill: what's great about that. good for him. he shows what a filibuster really is. you shouldn't just be able to -- what they've done for the last two years incessantly, is say i promise a filibuster. i threaten to filibuster then go back to the office and watch c-span or espn or whatever. what the hell, if you're going to filibuster, get up there and filibuster. good for rand paul.

he wanted to make a statement and send a message and i think did he. the message is doubly important because of what he was filibustering about. he was filibustering about several aspects all related to our policy regarding the use of drones as killing machines. so it comes up with the confirmation of john brennan which will soon be on the senate floor. he's destined to be the new head of the c.i.a. probably get confirmed. he's the architect of our drones policy. he's the one that took drones from an occasional thing under president bush to now this is president obama's way of warfare. and all of these questions haven't been answered yet. when can we use the drone, what can we use a drone for? who makes the decision? we don't know. we're just flying blind if you will with these drones in going after suspected terrorists in pakistan in another country that we're not at war against.

now, that made even more scary by the fact that yesterday while rand paul was starting to speak, the senate judiciary committee is holding a hearing with eric holder in front of it, eric holder who had two days earlier, sent a letter to rand paul saying it's not only okay to use drones to kill american citizens on foreign soil but there could be opportunities occasions, emergencies when it would be okay to use a drone to kill an american citizen on american soil. even if they're not in a combatant. we just think they're plotting against the united states. that is really doubly scary. and then this is the day after a pilot for alitalia flying into jfk says he spotted a drone in his flight path as he's coming in to land at jfk. this thing is really out of control.

and rand paul says one of the problems is that this authorization for the use of force which the congress almost, in a panicked mode, adopted after -- right after september 11th is now being stretched beyond what anybody could imagine at the time. here's again, rand paul from his filibuster. >> the problem is as this war has drug on, they take that authorization of use of force to mean pretty much anything. >> bill: rand paul says we've got it bassackwards. the congress is saying to the white house, what is your policy for the use of drones just so we know. b.s. says rand paul. we're the ones who ought to be telling the white house congress, which has the congressional authority only congress to declare war. congress should be telling the white house when they can use drones and when they can't.

>> we shouldn't be asking him for drone memos. we should be giving him drone memos. we shouldn't be asking him how he's going to run the drone program. we should be telling him how he's to run the drone program. that is our authority. he -- >> bill: he is so right about that. i gotta tell you rand paul, double win yesterday for the american people and for the constitution of the united states. and for the united states senate. he conducts a real filibuster and a real filibuster on an issue where we should be up in arms over this expanded use of drones without knowing what the legal authority, what the moral authority regarding its use and without having any idea of there any limits on the use of drones. good for rand paul. what do you think? 1-866-55-press. i'm not going to vote for him for president but yesterday right on.

>> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show" now on current tv. date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of

his ability, is trying to look out for us. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour. talking about yesterday's filibuster by senator rand paul on the subject of drones. many aspects of it and most recently the attorney general eric holder's statement in a le to rand paul and before the senate judiciary committee yesterday that there would be some circumstances, he said, like another pearl harbor or

another september 11th when we could use drones to kill american citizens on american soil. i don't think there should be any circumstances where that should be allowed. i haven't made that case -- they haven't made that case with me. before we get to your calls and comments, senator tom daschle who was the senate majority leader at the time of september 11th, he said yesterday that, at that time, president obama in the authorization for the use of force wanted that authorization to use the force to include the phrase even in the united states and the congress at the time, the senate at the time said no way. we're going to give you this authorization for the use of force to go after them overseas but no way are you going to have that expanded war making authority, killing authority here in the united states. now, eric holder is saying oh yes, we do. danger danger, i don't care who is in the white house.

peter? >> we're at bpshow. mama for obama says it's absolutely disgusting to see bill celebrate rand paul when mr. civil liberties would send african-americans to the back of the bus. on the other hand, ripa says -- >> bill: you could say that he did one thing right without saying i agree with every stupid thing he said. >> ripa says as much as i hate to say it, rand paul stood up in the interest of democracy and transparency. his filibuster is an example of a broken clock being right twice in a day. >> bill: good point. would i prefer elizabeth war ton have given that speech yesterday? yeah! but she didn't or dianne feinstein for barbara boxer. but they did not. chuck schumer? sure. rand paul did. fran is in springfield missouri. hi fran. >> caller: actually, die trust rand paul -- i don't trust rand paul. ever since the atf was

practically debunked, no one is mentioning the state militias. they're the ones stockpiling the assault weapons. they're rand paul's friends. >> bill: well, look, i don't want to get into a debate about rand paul. that's beside the point okay. i said he's crazy as a loon but he's right about drones. he is right about the filibuster. the filibuster is a real thing. we should get up and talk as long as you can. that's what it is all about. we as american citizens have to be concerned about this expanded use of drones. you may trust president obama to do the right thing. but he isn't going to be in the white house forever. if we give him this expanded authority to use drones to kill american citizens on american soil, let's say some nut like mitt romney were in the white house. what do you think he would do with that authority? >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

>> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. >> bill: thursday morning march 7. 33 minutes after the hour. the "full court press" coming to you live from our nation's capital. good to have you with us today. in the next hour, at the top of the next hour, we're going to bounce over to rome to find out what's up with the cardinals getting ready for the big conclave to elect the successor to benedict xvi remember, who didn't die he just retired. said he had enough. now he's just kicking back at the papal summer palace. father thomas reese joins us at

the top of the next hour. we'll get back to your calls about rand paul and the filibuster. rand paul and drones and eric holder saying that we can sometimes we could even use a drone to kill american citizens on american soil. that coming up. first just a quick word, you know, you've heard we've been talking about identity theft. there is another phrase you should get familiar with called friendly fraud. that is when your identity is stolen by actually a member of your family or a close friend. like this story i just saw a woman charged with identity theft admitted to police that she used her ex-husband's name and social security number without his permission to apply for a new phone line. she used that phone line to open up a couple of new credit card accounts. you hear stories like that, identity theft friendly fraud, you've got to be protected against it. what i've got is called

lifelock ultimate. i've got it and you need it. the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection ever made. even includes your bank accounts but of course, lifelock can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. call now mention press 60, you'll get 60 risk-free days. if you're not happy call them within 60 days, cancel and get a full refund. see lifelock for details. 1-800-356-5967 for lifelock ultimate. on rand paul and filibuster on rand paul and drones, peter? >> a lot of comments still on twitter and a lot of people feel the same way. >> bill: people should be commenting about this. >> a lot of people feel the same way you do. it is not very comfortable to say i agree with rand paul or good for rand paul but in this case, a lot of people realize they have to do it. louise noelle says it is a shame

rand paul had to be the one to do what's right on the issue of drone. perry reunion says paul showed how all filibusters should work. senator reid failed to give the people transparency. >> someone supporting rand over reed in the senate. bark way says i give rand paul credit for engaging in a real filibuster and it is about damn time someone in congress stood up for the constitution. >> bill: this is what tom udall and tom harkin and jeff merkley and others have been fighting for. this is what the filibuster should be. so we see this is what senators should have to do. bernie sanders did it. rand paul has done it. >> you know what? it is damn effective it captured everybody. even those who don't usually watch politics watched what was going on. it can be very effective. >> bill: when i went to bed last night i can see the

capitol dome from my bedroom. the light was on top of the capitol. rand paul was still talking. good for him. again, as liberals, as progressives, as obama supporters, you know, we may be a little uncomfortable saying are we really going to criticize the obama administration? president obama knows what he's doing. he won't go too far. i hate to pop your bubble but here's something we have to remember. president obama is not going to be in the white house forever. there will be somebody else sitting there. some day, it will be a republican. and would you really trust a george bush or a dick cheney or a newt gingrich or a herman cain or a michele bachmann or you name it, or a rand paul, to use this kind of authority and to have that kind of authority -- that killing authority here in the united states? no freakin' way! justin is out in pittsburgh,

pennsylvania. what do you say, justin? >> caller: i just wanted to say -- i think congress started a really dangerous precedent by not enacting the war powers act. and using their authority to kind of keep the president at the time it was bush, in check. >> bill: totally. >> caller: now the american people are thinking the president has all of this supreme authority and can do whatever they want and now whenever congress actually flexes their muscle and says oh, wait no, no, this is not a good idea. the american people are like wait, you can't do that. it is kind of scary how little people know about how our country works and checks and balances. and what i'm really kind of thinking though is as much as i dislike the drone usage would that be covered under the commander in chief? so when we're at war the president, you know, acting commander in chief does that give him authority to use any

means necessary to win whatever conflict we're in at the time. >> bill: that's a good question. that's an unanswered question, i guess. let me just make an analogy to the use of torture. there are american laws and international laws against the use of torture. now, george bush said that he could override that, right, as president. and he could use torture because he believes we got good information. he violated international law and was never held responsible for it. president obama disagrees with president bush on torture but president obama does believe his executive authority gives him an unlimited ability to use drones as killing machines overseas and now we know in the united states of america. and i think that pushes the authorization too far as well. >> absolutely. >> bill: those are all of the questions that have not been

answered. look, there are always going to be wars. there are always going to be drones, now we know. and i'm not saying ban drones, shoot, put them all down and never use them again. but there has to be some guiding policy on when the use of a drone is acceptable and when its's not for what purpose against whom and that policy i believe also should be made by congress, not the president of the united states. we do not have an -- should not have -- we're not supposed to have according to our founding fathers, according to the constitution an all powerful president of the united states who makes the laws. congress makes the laws. when rand paul says we shouldn't be asking for those memos from the president, we ought to be giving him the memos he is absolutely right. read the constitution and who's got the war-making power and who doesn't. kevin is calling from chicago.

what do you say? >> caller: hi, bill, how are you? >> bill: i'm good. >> caller: you're showing your true colors as a true progressive. that's the difference that defines us from them. when they're right we have the balls to stand up and say so and agree with them and when our side is wrong and obama is dead wrong on this. obviously i supported him. but you know what, you said it perfectly there. in your monologue you just finished up there. we're morphing into a dictatorship where one guy has the authority to do whatever he wants. >> bill: yeah. i think as americans you know, this is one where left or right you've gotta say do we want a president with unlimited power. i think the answer from the beginning of this country kevin has been no. right? >> exactly. you think about how they were so quick to give bush this authority. the warmongering and all of this, create this war. well now this is coming back to bite him in the ass.

just think you know, i work in the airline industry. the skies are crowded enough as it is. can you imagine all of the damn drones up there? everybody is going to want to have one. every authority. every police. i mean come on. it is ridiculous. >> bill: you know, somebody said -- thanks, kevin. i really appreciate the call. talking about the airline industry. somebody said well that drone -- so-called drone, we don't know yet, the fbi is investigating that they saw up at jfk it may turn out to be a model airplane that was flying too high. great, big model airplane. maybe. but kevin you're right. the use of domestic drones is already expanding. there are hundreds of permits that have already been given to universities. they're using them to police departments and to other government agencies that are already using drones. the faa this week issued -- what do they call them?

requests for proposals right. they distributed those sent those out today to establish six new training centers in the united states for the use of drones. so i mean, this is growing and growing and growing. and it's just time for all of us to ask these questions and demand answers and that, again is what rand paul did yesterday. we'll talk more about rand paul a little bit later. next segment. we'll take a break to take a look at where the economy is going. and the dow on top of setting one record on tuesday they set another record yesterday. derek thompson from the atlantic joins us in the next segment. >> announcer: radio meets television the "bill press show." now on current tv. now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying.

you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

military should never be used in the u.s.a. against its citizens. john v. moore still skeptical says rand paul's issue on -- position on issues that impact americans is not honorable. >> bill: i'm not saying i agree with him on anything but about drones. congress ought to be writing the memos, not asking for the memos from the white house. big news on the economic front yesterday. it is not the total -- doesn't represent the total economy but it is still good news. the number 14,296. that's where the dow closed yesterday. second day in a row we've had a record high. derek thompson, senior editor and business writer for "the atlantic" joining us on our news line this morning. good to talk to you.

>> good to be here. >> bill: what does this mean, the dow the sky is the limit right? it looks like. >> right. like you said, it is just one number. what this means is that a handful of people think that the companies in the dow are making money. that their future looks bright. they represent sort of future capacity to make money to have high earning. it is true. it is a good number. better than the alternative which the stock market is in the toilet. but at the same time, you know, it is also true that some other numbers aren't so great. that's a lot of what we've been writing about is the dow is a good indicator of the future of the economy. to a certain extent, it can predict good times to come for a handful of industrial companies. at the same time, you look at a number like household income which is pretty good indication of the health of the economy. and that said inflation at a

low. there are some numbers that are up and some numbers that are down. that's sort of -- america today. >> bill: now can we assume that this record number high for the dow is going to translate into more americans getting jobs? >> well, right like i said -- >> bill: one would think right, if the companies have more money, they're going to hire more people. that does not seem to be happening. >> right. look, if the dow -- you know, without its crashing to 7,000 6,000, 5,000 like it was in march of 2009, that's when companies really were firing people and hiring practically nobody. companies have hired in the last two years. we've averaged something like 150, 160,000 new jobs added every single month. >> bill: but we need more than that. >> they're not hiring that quickly. the weird thing i think people are picking up on is this paradox between a nominal

all-time high in the dow compared to the fact that we still have you know, millions of jobs left than we had in 2007. and gdp is higher than it was then. so we're making more with fewer people. because of globalization because of technology. because companies have become much better at essentially doing more. >> bill: so what does that tell you? does that mean that we can't count -- corporate profits are at a record high. at least they have been. now we have the dow at a record high. does this tell us that the private sector is not going to create the jobs and we need another government stimulus to put people back to work? >> well, the first thing it says is that obama is not exactly the socialist some people accuse him of because the private sector appears to be doing quite lovely. second thing is exactly that. there are some parts of the economy that don't seem to need

help and others need help. the investment economy is bullish on our future, of our strongest multinational companies to keep earning money because they're good at managing the money and resources they have. part of that, managing resources is hiring the people they used to. that suggests future profits future earnings. i think we do still need to have high -- a lot fewer taxes compared to -- in order to keep economic activity in the private sector. to a certain extent, we should worry about the deficit in the next few years but right now the overwhelming crisis this country faces is one of demand and one of jobs. it is difficult for the public sector to stimulate private sector activity but one way to do that is just to keep taxes low and keep spending high. >> bill: i agree with you but it does go counter to what we

hear from so many people in washington today that we have to cut, cut cut cut cut spending that's their entire focus and of course, the more we cut government spending, the more jobs -- government jobs will be lost. so even more people that will be out of work, you know. and you and paul krugman derek are about the only two people i know who are saying that. you're in good company, as far as i'm concerned. >> well, thank you. >> bill: derek, always good to have you in studio. when you make your way down to washington we'll look forward to seeing you again soon. thanks for joining us. >> of course. >> bill: derek thompson, senior writer for "the atlantic" on the big news out of wall street. dow closing two dayss in a row at 14,296. my 401(k) had a big smile on its face yesterday. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: top of the next hour, father thomas reese joins us from rome. brings us up to date on the preparation for the conclave over there. on drones and rand paul. steve traffic from buffalo says at this point in history, it is far more likely you will be sucked into the earth by a sinkhole than the obama administration going to attack

you with a drone. that is true, steve. but president obama is not going to be in the white house forever. hello, hello. sorry to remind you of that point. bill says your blanket criticism of president obama and blanket support of rand paul is very disturbing. >> bill: i have made no blanket criticism of president obama. i support him 99% of the time. i have made no blanket support of rand paul. i oppose him 99% of the time. i'm just saying that right now and i hope president obama comes up with the answers we need, right now rand paul is correct. congress should not be asking the white house what are you going to do with drones? congress should be telling the white house this is how far you can go with drones and you cannot go any further. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: my fellow americans good morning, good morning, good to see you today. here we are on this thursday, march 7, on the "full court press" here on current tv. thanks for joining us. we're coming to you out in every corner of this great land of ours. from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. a lot going on here in washington, d.c. except no snowstorm. no. they promised us a blizzard yesterday. but then did not deliver. not even a snowflake. sort of fits, i think this city

of broken promises. more to chalk up. president obama took a whole gang of republicans out to dinner last night at the jefferson hotel and we've been told he personally picked up the bill for dinner. talking to them about what they're going to do about ending the sequester. but one republican who was not there last night senator rand paul. he wasn't at dinner because he was still speaking on the senate floor. he promised he would speak against the drone policy of the obama administration. he would filibuster and until his bladder ran out and it did at 12 hours and 52 minutes. good for him for raising an important issue and showing us what a real filibuster really looks like. the man's got the bladder of a camel. michael bloomberg the nanny mayor of new york is off on his latest crusade. he wants to pass a law that says you can't listen to too loud of music in your earphones. all of that and more coming up right here on current tv.

billy zane stars in barabbas. coming in march to reelz. to find reelz in your area, go to reelz.com

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you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: there was a rare sighting in washington yesterday. no, it wasn't an ayery-billed woodpecker. it wasn't a bigfoot. it was a fill buster. haven't seen one of those in a long time. thursday thursday, march 7. so good to see you today. thank you for joining us here on the "full court press" on current tv. the "full court press" on your local, progressive talk radio station. bringing you the big stories of the day. the news of the day here from our nation's capital from around the country from around the globe. we've got it covered.

we'll not only tell you what's going on we'll give you a chance to sound off yourself and tell us what it means to you. what you think about it all. 1-866-55-press. that's our toll free number. give us a call at 1-866-55-press. or follow us on twitter and talk us to on twitter at bpshow. follow us on facebook. talk to us on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. we've got it all ready to go this morning with a whole team here. peter ogborn, dan henning is on the phone there. phil backert taking care of the phones. and cyprian bowlding taking care of the video cam and making sure we're not only on radio but on tv. >> happy thursday. >> bill: happy thursday. how about it. and when i mention the filibuster that filibuster of course conducted yesterday. it was the ninth longest filibuster in history. senator rand paul filibustering

the nomination of the confirmation of john brennan as the next head of the c.i.a. over the issue of drones. and the expanded use of drones and the statement two days ago by eric holder, attorney general that under some extraordinary circumstances, emergency circumstances, it would be okay legally okay to use a drone to kill an american citizen on american soil. rand paul opened up his filibuster yesterday with this promise. for rand paul. >> i would like today to begin to filibuster john brennan's nomination for the c.i.a. i will speak until i can no longer speak. i will speak as long as it takes until the alarm is sounded from coast-to-coast that our constitution is important. >> bill: i will speak as long as it takes i will speak as long as my bladder holds out.

rand paul ended up going for 12 hours and 52 minutes but just a few minutes before the end he said guess what. i gotta go. >> i would go for another 12 hours to try to break strom thurmond's record but i've discovered there are some limits to filibustering and i'm going to have to go take care of one of those in a few minutes here. [ laughter ] >> bill: good for him. 12 hours 52 minutes that's talking a long time and ninth longest. >> yeah. what i thought was most interesting or one of the things i thought was interesting about that was it was all substance. you've heard people that say when they filibuster, they literally read the phone book. al d'amato sang south of the border down mexico way when he filibustered in 1992. rand paul was all about drones. all about drones. >> bill: asking important questions. i got a big hour coming up here.

we'll start by jumping over to rome and joining father thomas reese. who will bring us up to date on preparations for the conclave to elect the next pope. congressman -- some day senator probably. chris van hollen, state of maryland will be here joining us in studio as well dylan byers here from politico to talk about the late latest interview by roger ailes head of fox news. we'll get to father thomas reese in a second. but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news, mitch mcconnell's senate re-election campaign is just a little late to the harlem shake party. almost a month after that meme was a thing, they they released their version of the harlem shake filmed at churchill downs. the senator is not even in it. just his staff members with one person holding an oversize photo of their boss, just a day late and a dollar short. >> bill: i think that's going

to be the theme for mitch mcconnell's campaign. >> as if i needed another reason to not like mitch mcconnell. >> congressman john lewis is writing a new book. and it is a graphic novel. according to the hill, the georgia democrat is co-authoring a trilogy called manner about his work with the civil rights movement. the book hits store schells in august in time -- schells in august for the march in washington. >> bill: a real hero, a legend in his time. >> the bill in hawaii to protect celebrities from paparazzi is one step closer to becoming law. the hawaii state senate yesterday passing the steven tyler act. it will create a civil violation if people take unwanted photos or videos of others in their private moments. abc reports the sponsors of the bill hope it will increase celebrity tourism in the state therefore bringing in more money so when the stars visit they know they'll have some semblance of privacy.

the media is against it saying it is an attack on first amendment rights and now goes on to the state house. could be passed as early as next week. >> bill: that's a double-edged sword. going to be interesting to see how that works out. all eyes on rome these days. benedict xvi is already in retirement. now this transition in between. and to check out on the preparations for the next conclave to elect the new pope, good friend of ours, father thomas reese joins us from rome. he is analyst from the national catholic reporter and author of the book "inside the vatican the politics and organization of the catholic church." he knows what's going on better than anybody. father reese bonjour. >> bonjour. >> bill: do we know when the new conclave will start?

>> we don't know yet. we may find out today. they have to start by the 15th of march but they could start earlier. >> bill: why by the 15th? >> well, that's just the rules that are in the constitution that regulates conclaves. >> bill: so they could start -- any time they wanted now, correct? >> they may start sunday or monday. >> bill: what's holding them up? >> well, some of the cardinals from outside of rome would just like to have more time to get to know each other, to share coffee breaks dinner, lunch conversation. what's the hurry? this is the most important thing that these cardinals will ever do. so they want to have the time before they go into the conclave to talk about it. so that when they do get there they'll have an easier decision.

>> bill: now what are they doing and how are they using this time? are they meeting? are they having auditionless for new pope? >> there's no campaigning no bumper stickers. in fact if a cardinal campaigned to become pope, that would be considered a disqualification. it would show he was too arrogant too proud by putting himself forward. so it's got to be your friends that push you. >> bill: i did hear that -- or read somewhere that they're having meetings and the card -- cardinals are allowed to speak but for no more than five minutes. >> of course, they have about 115 cardinals. each one, if they wanted to talk for an hour, they would go on forever. so they limit it to five minutes but i don't think that's very strictly enforced. >> bill: those are -- those

are kind of auditions aren't they? for the job? >> certainly the cardinals get up and want to express their views about the needs of the church. what the new pope ought to do. maybe even qualifications of a pope. and if someone gives an impressive speech that could be helpful. if he goes on too long and bores them that's the end of it. >> bill: what language, by the way. >> well, they have -- of course, all sorts of languages in the room. but they have simultaneous translation. but i would say most of the addresses are given in italian or english. english tends to be everybody's first or second language. >> bill: but not latin huh? >> no. >> bill: whatever happened --

>> in fact, the pope read off his resignation in latin and people were look around, what's he saying? >> bill: now i understand you can't tell us too much about what's happening in this -- in these informal meetings because there is a gag order isn't there? >> yes. >> bill: are they abiding by the gag order? >> well, the americans are. they were holding press conferences and told nothing to it. but the italian cardinals tend to leak information to their favorite journalists. so by the next day, most of whatever happened in the conclave is reported in the italian press. >> bill: oh, i see. there are some leaks getting out there. >> oh, absolutely. this place leaks like a sieve. >> bill: in the american press this morning, at least on the drudge report, the buzz is that

the cardinal from the philippines has impressed everybody, that we may have our first asian cardinal, a guy who apparently very charismatic. he's a it preacher. he's a tv preacher. he is on facebook. he's done a lot of work with the poor. what do you hear about him? can you tell us, is he a favorite? >> well, i think he's a long shot because he's so young. by that, i mean he's in his early 50s. that's young for a cardinal. the average age for the cardinals is about 72. so it is much more likely that they'll look for somebody in their late 60s early 70s. >> bill: could it be somebody from outside of europe? >> oh, yeah. there is a lot of talk about someone from africa where the church is doing very well. on the other hand, other people say well, the church is doing fine in africa. leave it alone. we need somebody who can solve

the problems of the church in europe and north america and south america. >> bill: what about a north american pope? >> i think that's a real long shot because traditionally the church has not wanted to give the papacy to whoever is a superpower so the chances of an american pope are slim. plus you have the problem that a lot of people in the third world would think if an american was elected, that the c.i.a. fixed the election or wall street blocked the election. >> bill: right. >> we don't need that. >> bill: it may even be true. who knows. father thomas reese is on the line with us from rome. an analyst covering this conclave for the national catholic reporter. also the author of the book "inside the vatican."

father, i have to ask you speaking about north american cardinals, there is a controversy and as a catholic and as a californian, as somebody from los angeles, very up to date on the controversy surrounding cardinal roger mahoney, a lot of people saying that because of recent documents showing his role in covering up the sexual abuse on the part of some priests under him that he should not be allowed to vote in this conclave. but he will vote, won't he? >> yes. actually under the rules, the college of cardinals cannot ban anybody from entering. even if you had a cardinal who was excommunicated, committed murder poisoned the pope or whatever, they would still have the right to enter the conclave. >> bill: whoa. >> now, he could voluntarily

decide not to attend as the cardinal from scotland has. >> bill: yeah. >> but no one can stop him from entering the conclave. >> bill: have you had a chance to see cardinal mahoney or talk to him? have any of the reporters asked him -- >> he has not been talking to the english-speaking press. did he have an interview with one -- he did have an interview with one of the italian newspapers. he has not made himself available. >> bill: so his intention is to be there and devote come hell or high water i guess. father thomas reese good to have you on the scene over there. thank you for taking time out to join us today. we'll be checking in with you before we see the white smoke. >> good to be with you bill. >> bill: thanks, father thomas reese. arrivederci. analyst for the national catholic reporter. all eyes on rome. >> announcer: this is the "full court press."

the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look

out for us. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: dylan byers senior reporter for politico joining us here in studio at the half hour. talk about who's right and who's wrong about bob menendez. "washington post" -- or "the daily caller." and what about roger ailes?

he lashed out at just about everybody yesterday in an interview. peter, we have a couple of other stories to throw in here. >> yes, indeed. over this past weekend we saw mitt romney re-emerge and gave his first interview. >> bill: of course ann romney blamed his loss on the media. he ran a perfect campaign! perfect campaign. >> mitt romney said on the 47% remarks, he said that but he didn't actually mean that. he didn't say what he meant. that sort of sums up the romney campaign as a whole. but there's more romney news. yesterday nbc news reported that mitt romney has found a new job. he's going to join an investment firm that was founded by his son, tagg. >> bill: with his daddy's money. >> nice work if you can get it. he's going to serve as chairman of the firm's executive committee where he'll advise on matters of private equity. >> bill: how would you like to have your father working your firm? >> that's a little awkward.

>> bill: i think it is awkward. i disagree with you you crazy old kook. >> how is that going to be a working relationship? >> bill: was that a no bid contract? [ laughter ] very emotional moment yesterday when gabby giffords, former congresswoman, of course, she and her husband mark kelly have started this new foundation on gun safety. particularly pushing the background checks. they testified in front of the senate judiciary committee here in washington a month or so ago. yesterday, they were in tucson, arizona and they showed up at the site of the supermarket where she was so brutally shot a couple of years ago now. laid a wreath there. bouquet of flowers there at this little memorial in front of the store for those nine people who were killed at the time and made another brief plea for congress to do the right thing.

>> be bold, be courageous please support background checks. thank you very much. >> bill: endorse the background checks. that is what they've been pushing for. it is the heart of the president's proposal as well. it is what the brady campaign says is the number one thing we can do. and more and more signs that it's going to happen this year. got the sequester. it's done. it's happened. as bad as it is, we're going to have to live with it for awhile. in the meantime, we have to get busy on climate change, on immigration reform and on gun safety. for sure. another hearing on gun safety in the senate today in the senate judiciary committee. we'll be back with dylan byers and talk media news. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: here we go. 33 minutes after the hour now. thursday, march 7. >> some of us have full work weeks this week. >> bill: i wasn't here monday or tuesday. still trying to catch up with this week. thursday march 7th. great to see you today. it is "full court press" coming to you live from our nation's capital, brought to you by the laborer's international union of north america. the good men and women of the labor's union under president terry o'sullivan, building a better america. check out liuna

liunabuildsamerica.org. there is a big media war going on in our nation's capital. "the daily caller" over the -- and roger ailes saying i probably only have ten years and i'm going to let it all hang out and tell you everything i know -- everything i think about everyone i know. senior media reporter for politico dylan byers joining us back in studio. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> bill: this is a lively time. a lot to write about. >> media beat is never boring. so many fascinating characters. >> bill: happy as a clam there. let's start with bob menendez. it is hard to tell. daily caller first cams out with this story that bob menendez, senator from new jersey, down in

the dominican republic with prostitutes, allegedly even some of them underage. now "the washington post" says maybe they got it wrong. what's going on? who do we believe? >> it is really convoluted story. it takes a lot of time to explain but in the simplest terms -- >> you have five minutes. >> bill: five minutes? that's a filibuster! >> the "washington post" reported that on a woman came forward, said i was paid to say that menendez paid me and my fellow prostitutes for sex acts. >> bill: this follows "the daily caller" -- menendez did pay the prostitutes and they identified the women. >> yes. in the original "washington post" story, they suggested that this woman is the same woman who was in "the daily caller" video. then "the daily caller" comes back and says no, you're wrong. it is not the same woman.

it is a different woman. now, abc news has also reported it the same woman "the daily caller" -- that "the washington post" has stood back and said maybe it is not the same woman. it is very hard to tell. certainly casts doubt. >> bill: couldn't you tell by the face? >> her face was blurred out in the original video. >> bill: "the daily caller" said the one we talked to was 23. the woman that "the washington post" talked to was 24. >> vice versa. >> which helps them in a chronological matter. >> bill: but like really? they think she's going to tell the truth about you how old she is? >> even if "the daily caller" is lying through its teeth which i'm not saying it is but it might be, it is kind of a foolproof argument because as long as the women's faces are blurred out there's nothing -- you know -- >> bill: so the question is --

has anybody else verified "the daily caller" story? >> no. other news organizations got that video, "the new york times" got it, abc news got it, none of them ran with it because they couldn't substantiate the claims. >> bill: so you would think a story like this, with the united states senator a. p. or reuters or "l.a. times" or "new york times," we know them all, would be down there trying to confirm the story. they must have tried. has anybody confirmed the story? >> "the new york times" jumped in and did a really long piece drawing out all of the elements of the story people who might be behind it. other efforts to pin all sorts of bad stuff on menendez, et cetera, et cetera. the fbi has been involved. it has really gotten big. in all of that reporting, "the new york times" can -- nor anyone else can ever substantiate it. >> that's the thing that sticks out to me. you would think that somehow

somewhere, somebody along the line would be able to corroborate that story. and when you look at the reporter that wrote the original story, getting matthew boyle who left "the daily caller" and is now with breitbart, he has a list of running -- >> bill: is that a -- is that going up or going down? [ laughter ] >> or let's say it is a move further right. further down the fringe and toward irrelevance maybe. >> he has a history of running with these rumors that you know, one of his other stories was that john boehner was going to resign as speaker of the house. >> bill: we saw how that worked out. there is a whole financial impropriety that looks like the fbi is investigating whether bob menendez took too many free flights or reimbursed the government. but we're talking about the prostitution controversy now. it looks like "the daily caller" went forward with it and can't really prove it.

>> right. they can't. if it ever does come forth and they say we were wrong. we totally screwed up, it is yet another example and a kind of larger conversation that's happening right now about conservative media and right wing media and what it needs to do to gain some legitimacy and some credibility among the kind of larger media environment. of course, it is very likely that tucker carlson doesn't care about any of that. >> bill: he told "the washington post" yesterday he didn't care. in an interview that i saw. dylan byers is with us from politico. so it looks like -- it looks like, my friend, tucker, may have egg on his face, "the daily caller," egg on his face in making this accusation against senator bob menendez from new jersey about either using or underpaying prostitutes in the dominican republic. 1-866-55-press. your thoughts, your comments. do you believe the story or not. and then what's up with roger

ailes? >> so much. >> bill: so he -- "vanity fair" has an excerpt from an upcoming biography of roger ailes where he really kind of lets it all out. >> he does. the excerpt is chock-full of you know juicy one-liners. he calls newt gingrich a prick. >> sound the alarm! >> he calls obama lazy. he says obama has never worked a day in his life which is in response to what was said about ann romney. what else. he says joe biden is dumb as an ashtray. there's something in there for everybody. >> bill: what does he say about his personalities on fox news? >> he says -- all he gets to is

the line he's always gotten to which is that they're fair and balanced. it keeps rubbing people the wrong way. there was an interesting conversation in there about the time that ailes and rupert murdoch met with obama in 2008 during the presidential campaign and according to what ails told this biographer, obama said he was concerned about sean hannity. and ailes replied, don't worry, the people who watch hannity will never vote for you anyway. i don't know if that's what he meant he was concerned about sean hannity. >> bill: yeah. that statement of ailes is probably true. whenever you think about roger a.i.m.s., you have to say -- roger ailes, don't you, that he is a force of nature. >> he's one of the most influential figures in the history of media and politics, i would argue. think about what he did for richard nixon and reagan and then think more importantly about what he's done with fox news in terms of branding the republican party. it is insane.

>> that being said, i mean some of the ratings recent ratings for fox news aren't as good as they usually are. is that a sign of where they're going? or is it sort of -- temporary dip? >> they have -- i think they have the same problem the republican party has which is a demographic problem. now, at the same time, you know, so much of cable news is entertainment and he knows how to put programming on television that people are going to like. i don't think that fox news' dip in the ratings is the beginning of a long-term decline. you've seen he tried shake up programming. sarah palin, dick morris go out. scott brown comes in. he's trying to offer something new and distance the network from its kind of negative reputation during the 2012 election. >> bill: i might have missed a beat here. have they signed scott brown? >> yeah, he's on. >> bill: he's the new fox -- he and dennis kucinich. >> great line-up.

>> bill: there it is. you know, i haven't seen -- maybe in a week or so, the ratings. fox is down. everybody is down after an election year. cable tv comes down. fox is down from where they were historically, peter but they're still beating -- msnbc two to one so cry me a river. >> in terms of the ratings race, msnbc has made some real gains. >> bill: they have. >> which i think again is due to new audience among the left for that kind of media to counter what ailes has done which is real interesting because when ailes built fox news, he was trying to counter what the mainstream media was doing. >> bill: let's talk about that particularly msnbc when we come back. the latest on fox news. we mention this and the phones usually go crazy. e-mails go crazy. anything good to be said about fox news or roger ailes?

what about msnbc? are they going to overtake fox with their pretty bold left moves lately. and their hiring. dylan byers is in studio with us. your calls welcome at 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

current tv is the place for true stories. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: you've got it. 13 minutes before the top of the hour. congressman chris van hollen, senior democrat on the house

budget committee part of the democratic leadership, joining us in studio in the next hour. right now in studio the powerful media reporter for politico senior media reporter -- >> powerful? >> nice. >> bill: get a call from dylan, people shake. what are they up to now? dylan byers. so peter before we get back to you. >> we're on twitter at bpshow find us there talking about roger ailes. paul says to call ailes a major influence on the media says more about the media than it does about ailes. it is sad and unfortunate for us. and on tucker, mr. john john says tucker seems to have fallen so far from the tree that he makes great trees look bad. you can find us at bpshow on twitter. >> bill: people are wound up this morning. i want to talk about msnbc, i spent a few good years at msnbc. i had a good show there with pat buchanan in the afternoon.

i know the network. they now have made a play, phil griffin, the president friend of mine, made a play to be the next fox but on the left. flat out. other than morning joe in the morning. right? they seem to be having some success. >> they're having incredible success. in terms of the exceptions of the rule like morning joe the key thing, this was true for roger ailes too the key thing is entertainment. you want folks to be entertained. you want your program to be compelling and personality-driven. now, the void that they were able to fill was the fact you've got all of the right wing voices in prime time on fox so let's put up a bunch of left wing voices in prime time on msnbc and that very much trickles throughout the network with a few notable exceptions. >> bill: right. very strong line-up in the

evening with al sharpton who i must admit has done very well in the ratings. no experience it at all. they gave him a show. ed schultz, rachel maddow, they're all strong. >> they have created brands and identities for themselves that people identify with. they're doing -- you know, it is incredible. roger ailes set a standard phil griffin is meeting it. >> bill: and lately, their hires have basically taken like fox took all of the bush people. now phil griffin has taken all of the obama people. >> robert gibbs, david axelrod and of course, the right goes crazy about this. but you know, there is kind of a -- there is going to be a deep liberal progressive democratic bench of contributors at msnbc heading into the next elections in 2014 and 2016.

>> bill: we were hoping at one time that current tv would surpass msnbc in terms of a progressive strong network but -- alas, alas, that's not going to be. the other big media story and you've been right in the middle of it at politico. you can follow dylan at politico.com. front page, will you see lot of his stuff there and his own blog. but is the bob woodward story. >> yeah. >> bill: you were one of the first to say -- politico is the one who put the story out there right. bob woodward's criticism of obama as to who came up with the idea of the sequester. and then woodward complaining he had been attacked by -- threatened. you were the first ones to write that maybe woodward's cry of alarm was not merited. >> yeah. you know, throughout the day after this piece came out in which woodward is saying not

saying but basically suggesting it was a threat, then the full e-mails come out. it is like hey bob as your friend, i suggest you know, don't follow this. you might regret it. i love you. let's get a drink. let's get coffee. and so yeah, there's no threat there. and there's no -- and then you wonder -- and he keeps in a way, bob woodward keeps digging deeper. he goes on fox news that night after all of this has happened. he talks again about this threat. it is like you know, what are you doing? you've got such a great reputation as a reporter. you are bar none, the most famous reporter in the country. at a certain point, i don't know, hang it up. >> bill: why so thin-skinned in his position with all of the money he's made and the reputation he's got? just overreaction. total overreaction on his part. >> you almost wonder is this

thin-skin or is he trying to create a story where there isn't one? and certainly, what he is doing by injecting himself into the middle of the story. that's when every reporter i talk to on a day-to-day basis says this is why people hate journalism because we inject ourselves into the story. >> that's rule number one. don't make yourself the story. he made himself the story. it either shows he's thin-skinned, out of practice and isn't used to getting those kind of calls and e-mails. ask any reporter out there. they've gotten more threatening e-mails in the last hour than that one that he got and claims it to be a threat. >> right. chuck todd, for instance, said you know, you get -- that's just a day. ron says try going up to the hill and getting to lunch without having a -- tell you to f off. >> bill: exactly. all of the top reporters in the white house briefing room said woodward is just nuts. we get that on a day-to-day

basis. that goes with the territory. i have received and i have written worse e-mails than bob woodward -- >> i've received a couple of those e-mails frankly. [ laughter ] >> bill: dylan, my friend, i love you so much. so nice of you. >> that's a threat! i'm not coming back! [ laughter ] >> bill: thanks for coming in today. thanks for your good work. politico.com. dylan byers. i will be back to tell you what the president is up to today. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." so you can stop intense itch fast wherever you are. i dropped the itch. free yourself from embarrassing scalp itch. drop the itch with maximum strength scalpicin®. also available scalpicin® 2 in 1, itch relief plus dandruff control.

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: president obama today, 9:30 briefing with the vice president. get the daily briefing. at 1:55, he's going over to the department of interior to sign the re-authorization of the violence against women act. but we just learned some breaking news that he's having lunch before he goes over to the department of interior. a lunch with congressman paul ryan and congressman chris van hollen. chris van hollen will be our guest in studio. we'll get a preview of his lunch with president obama. how exciting! >> breakfast with us. lunch with obama. >> bill: there it is. briefing with jay carney at noon. i will be there for the briefing. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. what do you say? it is thursday morning, march 7. good to see you today. you're on the "full court press" on current tv. thank you so much for joining us. look forward to hearing from you about the news of the day. we'll take your calls at 1-866-55-press. and what if they promised a blizzard and not one snowflake fell. that's exactly what happened in washington, d.c. yesterday. and somehow it's very fitting in this city of broken promises, there is another big broken promise. let's see president obama took

a whole gang of republicans out for dinner last night to talk budget politics. took them to the jefferson hotel. pretty swanky hotel. set him back, i'm sure a few bucks and president obama picked up the tab himself. we're told. so we taxpayers did not have to pay for that dinner. one senator who was not there one republican who was not there, senator rand paul wasn't there because he was talking talking, talking on the senate floor. rand paul with the ninth longest filibuster in senate history yesterday. 12 hours and 52 minutes filibustering over the lack of answers from the obama administration on when it plans to use drones and how it makes its decisions and what about the latest claim by attorney general eric holder that they are totally illegalized to use drones to kill american citizens here on american soil. man, lots to get into today. and we will. all of that coming up next on current tv.

support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern. [clucking]. everyone wants to be the cadbury bunny. cause only he brings delicious cadbury crème eggs, while others may keep trying. nobunny knows easter better than cadbury!

you know who is coming on guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey a rare sighting in our nation's capital yesterday... no no, no it wasn't a canadian lynx. it was a fill buster. -- it was a filibuster. hello, everybody. happy thursday. it is thursday, march 7th. great to see you today. thank you for joining us. thanks for being part of the program here on your local progressive talk radio station. and on current tv. our program called the "full court press" where we bring you up to date on what's happening

in our nation's capital. what's happening around the country and around the globe. and give you a chance to sound off about it. by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. joining us on twitter at bpshow or joining us on facebook at facebook.com/billpress show. all of those ways to connect. all of those ways to be part of our little town meeting here. called the "full court press." every morning with the entire team, peter ogborn and dan henning, yo-yo. >> hey, happy thursday. >> bill: phil backert is standing by to take your phone calls and cyprian bowlding brings us -- puts the pictures with the words and takes care of the video cam. and keeps us all looking good. we'll look as good as we can look this early in the morning given what we've got to offer. how about it. my favorite story of the day i think is the big dunkin' donut robbery attempt. up in westhaven connecticut.

the guy pulls up in his ford explorer. he's going -- i guess he's going to -- we don't know whether he was trying to get doughnuts or cash. but he pulls into the drive-in window gets out of his ford explorer, trying to climb through the window. and so -- very, very alert attendant there takes a cup of hot coffee and throws it in his face. and he jumps back into his ford explorer and takes off. >> outta there. >> bill: stop the robbery cold with a cup of hot hot coffee. then the woman turned around to her supervisor there at the time and said go run with dunkin'. [ laughter ] >> that's the slogan. >> bill: go run with dunkin'. >> pretty amazing. >> give her a raise. >> bill: i don't want to tangle with her. >> no way! >> bill: she's got it.

so congressman chris van hollen from maryland, senior democrat on the house budget committee. having lunch with president obama today. having breakfast with us. he will be here in about 20 minutes in studio with us. and get his take on the sequester and how the hell we're going to get out of it. and we will tell you about the big news yesterday. yes, in washington. haven't seen it in a long time. a real, honest to god filibuster on a very important issue. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other stuff you need to know as you head out the door on this thursday morning newt gingrich knows what he wants to do next. the former house speaker and failed presidential candidate -- >> is it go away? >> he wants to join the cast of donald trump's celebrity apprentice show on nbc. [ laughter ] >> it is not a joke. >> bill: he's already been fired how many times? fired by fox. fired by the house of representatives.

fired by the american people. >> he was on laura ingraham's talk show yesterday and was asked if he would ever appear on the show. he said absolutely. he thinks republicans would be better off and more relaxed if they went on tv shows like that to try and appeal to more people. >> bill: whatever. he can go on -- i don't care how many shows he won't appeal to me. >> two trucks filled with stupid hurdling at each other at an unstoppable speed. they'll run into each other. >> bill: you talk about the two biggest bags of hot air. >> hilarious. >> that's for sure. >> it looks like duchess kate spilled the beans on the sex of her and prince william's upcoming baby. cbs reports kate middleton was given a teddy bear from a well-wisher during a rare public appearance. she told that person "thank you, i will take that for my d --" stopped after the letter d. immediately caught herself. but it was quite obvious she was going to say the word daughter.

the baby is due in july. it's gotten britain all abuzz. >> she could have been saying a lot of things. >> bill: i know. i was trying to think of all of the words that start with d. >> dad? dude. >> if you have constant migraine headaches and are looking for a new cure try getting busy in the bedroom. according to cbs researchers in germany have found having sex successfully treated migraines in 60% of participants in the study. it showed that sexual activity releases endorphins which are natural painkillers. >> so, you're saying the number one excuse to not have sex is actually the way to cure -- >> vicious cycle. >> bill: go figure. sounds like a catch-22. here we go. 11 minutes after the hour. yes, indeed. it was a rare sight in washington, d.c. yesterday. everybody was abuzz.

everybody was twittering about it. it really happened. senator rand paul, yes look, he is crazy. he is wrong on most issues. but he was absolutely right yesterday. i say -- as i said earlier and i know a lot of you are upset at me for saying it. bravo rand paul. not on everything he said in his entire career. bravo rand paul for what he did yesterday. and for two reasons. number one because he did a real filibuster. and number two, he did it on a very important issue and that is the issue of drones. it was a little after 11:00 yesterday morning when senator paul, facing a -- an imminent vote in the senate on the confirmation of john brennan architect of our drone policy, his nomination or his done firmation as the next head of

the c.i.a. rand paul is not happy with the lack of answers we've had from the obama white house on the use of drones. took the occasion to go to the senate floor and said i'm going to do what i can to bring this issue before the american people. >> i rise today to begin to filibuster john brennan's nomination for the c.i.a. i will speak until i can no longer speak. i will speak as long as it takes until the alarm has sounded from coast-to-coast that our constitution is important. >> bill: that's how it began yesterday. he started speaking and he went on and on and on and on. the record, you remember set by senator strom thurmond back in the '50s from the civil rights act. 24 hours and 18 minutes he spoke without a potty break! >> there were rumors by the way, that he is a doctor.

he could get a catheter if he wanted to. or he might have been wearing some sort of -- diaper. but that he confirmed his staff confirmed he had no aids whatsoever. he was just holding it. >> bill: last -- the last filibuster in the senate actually was bernie sanders over tax policy and that was december 10 2010. he spoke for over eight hours. yesterday, senator paul got to the 12-hour mark plus close to 13 hours when he finally had to say i gotta go. >> i would go for another 12 hours to try to break strom thurmond's record but i've discovered there are some limits to filibustering and i'm going to have to go take care of one of those in a few minutes here. [ laughter ] >> bill: so at 12 hours and 52 minutes, the ninth longest filibuster in senate history he

walked out. >> i thank you very much for the forbearance and i yield the floor. >> bill: good for him. that's what a filibuster ought to be. that's what a filibuster used to be. that's what tom daschle and others have told us that's what tom udall and jeff merkley and tom harkin have been fighting for for so long, filibuster reform to have a real filibuster, you have to get up there and talk until your lungs or bladder give out. so, good for rand paul on that regard. also, good for the fact that he raised -- he did this filibuster over the issue of drones. for a couple of reasons. first of all, we had this pretty shocking report about a month ago that the united states says we have the legal authority to use drones to kill not just suspected terrorists in other countries as we've been doing in pakistan but also american citizens who might be on foreign soil that we think they're

not -- even that they're not combatants at the time, we think might have the intention of launching some kind of an attack against the united states and of course widespread use of drones in pakistan with hundreds and hundreds of civilians killed as collateral damage. so that whole issue. it became even more serious recently the obama administration said they felt the authority to use drones to kill american citizens. who happen to be on foreign soil. and then it was ratcheted up again one more notch this week when attorney general eric holder told rand paul in a letter sent on monday that eric holder believed the administration would be justified under certain extraordinary circumstances but would be justified to use drones to kill american citizens here in the united states of america. on american soil. as rand paul pointed out

yesterday, you know, we have some real questions about how far -- where the obama administration thinks it's getting its authority and how far they're stretching the authorization of force that was adopted by congress shortly after september 11th. >> the problem is as this war has drug on, they take that authorization of use of force to mean pretty much anything. >> pretty much anything meaning for george bush, it was torture. for president obama it is drones over there even against american citizens and now even here in the united states against american citizens. and so what congress is doing and we've seen this, senate judiciary committee, senator patrick leahy the senate intelligence committee senator dianne feinstein they've been asking and some others, too republican side. they've been asking the white

house for -- okay, you've gotta tell us what your policy is. we need a memo from you telling us how you decide and who decides and how that person decides when you can use a drone. when this person is a legitimate target or not. how many drone strikes where the drone strikes can take place. so please tell us, give us a memo outlining all of this to us. rand paul yesterday said -- i think he's absolutely correct no. those people have it bassackwards. >> we shouldn't be asking him for drone memos. we should be giving him drone memos. we shouldn't be asking him how he's going to run the drone program. we should be telling him how he's to run the drone program. that is our authority. >> how could a guy who is so crazy, so crazy most of the time who is on record as being against the civil rights act -- the very, very important legislation that he's against

sound so sane and clear on this issue? >> bill: on this issue he is absolutely right. we do not want a president with unlimited war-making powers. boom. >> it is as simple as that. >> bill: the constitution should be the one who sets forth the guidelines. you know, i -- and again i know i've been dumped on all morning by many of you my listeners and viewers, i love you but you're wrong on this. the idea of being -- come on. why are you criticizing president obama? i'm not criticizing president obama. i'm standing up for the constitution. i trust president obama. but he won't be there forever. we have to accept that. a democrat's not going to be there forever. there is going to be a republican in there some day. i certainly wouldn't trust them with this unlimited power in making war and in using drones as killing machines. there have to be limits and congress should be the one to set the limits. that's what rand paul was saying

yesterday. good for him. 1-866-55-press. tell us what you think about it. >> a couple of quick comments. we're on twitter at bpshow. falcon max says are you serious? what about everything else he stands for? wtf is wrong with you? >> bill: i don't agree with anything else he says. i agree with him on drones. >> eugene says you can't trust rand fall. he's not being pro-constitution, he's being anti-obama. steve cochran says really, bill? americans kill americans on u.s. soil every day and rand paul doesn't mind at all. he opposes violence against women, gun control measures and more. >> bill: we're talking about our government killing american citizens on american soil and you can't tell me we would do that because we can't get them any other way. it is impossible to arrest them or round them up. >> one final comment that sums up where you stand on this from twitter, jay says even a warped backward running clock is right twice a day.

>> bill: yep. rand paul is right on this one. 1-866-55-press. you tell me. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the

democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. >> announcer: this should -- this is the "bill press show." >> bill: i'm talking about drones and the use of drones here in the united states. it is interesting, tom daschle pointed out yesterday, he was majority leader, democratic majority leader in the senate when the authorization of force

was passed after september 11th. and he said yesterday that at the time, president bush said he wanted language in there to say they could even use this extra authority, war making authority that congress gave the president that president bush wanted language in there saying that applied in the united states as well as overseas. and even after september 11th, congress, at the time, said uh-huh. no way. we're not going to give you that authority to use that extra force here in this country. peter? >> a couple of comments still on twitter at bpshow. jeff says good for you bill. i don't like rand paul but he's 100% correct on this issue. i'm glad he stood up for all of us. barkway says someone gave rand paul a common sense enema. cleared his head for a day. although i'm sure he'll go back to his old self now that the filibuster is over. >> bill: he was right to

filibuster, on a real fill bust, not just threaten one and go back and watch tv in his office. he stood there for the whole 12 hours and 52 minutes and he was right to raise the issue of drones. we all should be concerned about this and want to know what the policy is and who makes it. byron in pottsville, pennsylvania, what do you say? hey, byron. >> caller: hey bill, i was under the impression that there were four or five senators who who -- >> bill: here's what they do. they can ask a question, right? and they can stand up. they show their support. they can ask a question. but they can't take over the microphone. or the filibuster's broken. that's the way it works. it was a little confusing. i agree. i asked the same question and looked it up myself. when it says that other supporters, other senators gave him some support. that's how they do it. >> caller: was he there the whole time? >> bill: yes. >> caller: go out and come back.

>> bill: no. not allowed to do that. he was there the whole time at the microphone. >> john stanton was live tweeting from the floor. there was one point where you have to be either at a desk or in the well and rand paul almost stepped outside and if that had happened, then the democrats could have said he's lost control of the floor. we now get it back. someone sort of pushed him back into the well so he could keep going. >> bill: look, i think congress -- rand paul stood up yesterday, i think congress has to stand up and congress has to say you know, we're in charge here. we're going to lay out the policies for the use of the drones before it gets totally out of control and i think congress said uh-huh, you're never going to use them to kill american citizens on american soil. that is a great abuse of authority. chris van hollen coming up next. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

>> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: it is 33 minutes after the hour now here on the "full court press." this thursday morning. congressman chris van hollen just about here. and we will be joined by him. >> he's still battling the snowstorm. >> bill: coming in from montgomery county, you know, all of the snow. we continue our conversation in the meantime about rand paul yesterday. i've been taking a lot of flak this morning. i'm not that thin-skinned. i've been around too long. i've taken flak from better

people than you. [ laughter ] >> bill: the flak is because i dare say that rand paul showed a lot of guts yesterday and was absolutely correct in my humble opinion. by doing a real filibuster, not faking it. a real filibuster, being willing to do that. putting himself on the line for 12 hours and 52 minutes. also by raising the issue of these drones. when you have our government telling us that they've got the right to use drones anywhere in the world to kill anybody we think is a threat, anywhere in the world at any time, and even american citizens and now extending that authority to killing american citizens right here on u.s. soil, i think we all have to stop and say hey whoa! whoa! what is the legal and moral authority to use these kind of killing machines? and rand paul was the only one to raise those issues yesterday. yeah. i wish chuck schumer had done it. i wish dick durbin had done it.

i wish elizabeth warren had done it. they didn't. rand paul did. right? >> that's what it comes down to. if there had been somebody on the other side of the aisle our side of the aisle that had stood up and done this, we would have supported them just as strongly. one person brought up the filibuster was against obama's nominee. it was anti-obama, it wasn't really about drones but it was. it was about drones. >> bill: only reason he was raising questions about the confirmation of john brennan is because john brennan is the architect of our expanded drone policy with the obama administration. so that's the time to raise this issue. jay is calling from chicago. hello, jay. good morning. >> caller: yes, good morning. can you hear me, bill? >> bill: yes i do. what's your point? >> caller: senator paul and mr. durbin are so upset about drones in america why doesn't congress pass a law banning all armed drones in u.s. airspace?

can they pass such a law? >> bill: i'm not sure they could pass such a law and no such law has even been introduced as yet. >> caller: for example, i think the idea of drones with missiles or guns or poison gas no good can come of it in the united states whether it's malicious to assassinate people or political opponents or i'm thinking of just accidents. >> bill: well, that's the debate i think that has to take place, jay. that's the debate maybe that started yesterday with the filibuster. i appreciate the call, jay. thank you. and we are very pleased to welcome to the studio, getting back to the question of what are we going to do about our budget, our deficit our debt and what is the right approach and what is happening with the sequester? a man who is in the middle of all of that, leading the fight and the charge for democrats on the issue, the ranking democrat

on the house budget committee our good friend joining us in studio congressman chris van hollen. good to see you. >> good to be back, bill. >> bill: also representing maryland's eighth congressional district. did you have a lot of snow in montgomery county yesterday? >> yesterday was my shortest commute from my house into the congress because there was nothing -- not much snow but nobody on the road. it was great. [ laughter ] today, on the other hand was one of my longer commutes. sorry about that. >> bill: people are back to work today. >> exactly. >> bill: now congressman, it is great that you're having breakfast with us. we understand you're having lunch with the president of the united states. you can confirm that. >> i understand the white house has confirmed that. so that's my understanding. this morning they confirmed that. i'm look forward to getting together with the president and with my colleague paul ryan. >> bill: and with paul ryan. so do you think -- what have they told you is the purpose of the lunch?

to try to come to a deal? >> i don't think that's the purpose of the lunch no. i think this is more in the nature of conversation with the president but i don't know really more than that. so i really can't comment on it. i think the president is reaching out to members of congress. obviously last night he had a group of republican senators at the jefferson hotel for dinner. president picked up the tab. i think the president is just doing everything he possibly can to reach out and our republican colleagues and democratic colleagues, we need to be talking even more. and hopefully that will lead to some results. but only time will tell. >> bill: is the goal now -- i guess the next deadline here is the end of march direct, when the continuing resolution has to be -- >> march 27th. continuing resolution expires. there's broad agreement at this point that we should not be

shutting down the government. the president's made clear that he's not going to issue veto threats on the continuing resolution. he's made clear also he has certain preferences as to what would be in there. i really hope that the bill that passed the house yesterday will be modified somewhat in the senate. barbara mikulski from my state the chairman of the senate appropriations committee, has been working with her colleagues to try to make sure that we do our job in congress and prioritize some of the spending on the nondefense side. what the house did was they provided some prioritization of spending for defense but not for nondefense. so there are improvements. the biggest short coming of what happened in the house yesterday was once again, we failed to deal with the sequester. and sequester is just a fancy washington word for loss of hundreds of thousands of american jobs. in fact, the nonpartisan congressional budget office

estimates if that sequester remains in place through the end of the calendar year, we'll see 750,000 fewer american jobs. 1/3 less economic growth this year! we can't afford to do that! which is why yesterday for the fourth time in the house of representatives, i asked on behalf of my democratic colleagues for the opportunity for a vote on our plan to replace the sequester in a balanced way. you get the same amount of long-term deficit reduction without losing 750,000 american jobs and all of the economic dislocation and disruption that brings. >> bill: so there is -- when the republicans say -- john boehner particularly says there's no -- the democrats don't have a plan. all they want is just to continue to raise taxes raise taxes, raise taxes. the white house has put forth a plan. house democrats have put forth a plan. senate democrats have put forth a plan. >> that's right. the white house has a plan. the senate democrats put forth a plan that got a majority vote in the united states senate. but because republicans used

their blocking tax ticks in the senate it didn't -- tactics in the senate it didn't pass. in the house where the republicans this year, in this new congress, right they've na not put -- they've not put forward one single proposal to replace the sequester. we have, the democrats, have now asked four times for a vote. so every time speaker boehner says where's your plan? we say mr. speaker, we got one. you haven't let us vote on it. four times, you've denied an opportunity to vote. you may want to vote no. although, you know, i think the american people would far prefer the alternative that we proposed to the massive disruption of job loss we'll progressively see. but they haven't even allowed a vote. this is supposed to be the people's house the transparent house, the accountable house nothing. >> bill: well, but speaker boehner says well, we don't have to do anything because we voted -- we passed two bills last year. >> i always like this, right. because most -- what grade i

can't remember when you take civics class in the united states. >> bill: maybe 7th grader. >> 7th grade will recognize when you have a new congress, all of the bills that were introduced in the previous congress are null and void. >> bill: they don't exist. they're gone. >> poof, no relevance. so for him to keep talking about the things they did last year is totally irrelevant. the number of times republicans have tried to do something this year, when it is relevant in the new congress about the sequester is a big fat zero. and as i said, we've now asked four times most recently, yesterday, for a vote. a vote. on our alternative. >> bill: is the sequester really going to kick -- i mean when maybe? not if but when will the sequester really kick into the american people feel whoa. this is bad news. and we've gotta fix it? >> well, things will get progressively worse. you know, i made it very clear it wasn't that the sky was going

to fall but pressure will slowly build. for example the furloughs of federal employees couldn't, by law, begin for more than 30 days. after march 1st so the earliest is april 1st because people need notice. agencies are hopefully trying to work hard to avoid furloughs. these are -- these are folks who are working hard for the american people. these are middle income families. taking leave without pay is really going to be hard on them. but it will -- create great disruptions around the country and the president's talked about some of those. but here's the main thing bill. you don't have to use the president's numbers. you don't have to use our numbers. the nonpartisan independent congressional office has said if you let this thing stay in place by the end of the year, we'll have 750,000 fewer american jobs. the same number of jobs we created between october and january of this year.

we are still in a very fragile slow-growing economy. we cannot afford to lose that many jobs. and the thing about that is you're not going to see that in one place. that will be throughout the economy. it is because the federal government will be spending $110 billion less on goods and services in this calendar year than it would have otherwise. that means fewer people are able to receive that income and go out and buy goods and services at their local stores and those stores can sell less so they hire less. it is that whole cycle. the cuts are not only arbitrary but they're too deep, too fast which is why our alternative does targeted cuts. but also eliminates a lot of the special interest tax breaks. over a period of time. and that's the way to go. what's holding this up is once again, republicans who signed that grover norquist pledge, have taken the position that you cannot eliminate one tax break whether it is corporate jets,

whether it's special tax breaks for hedge fund managers. you can't eliminate a single one -- big oil. you can't get rid of one of those for the purpose of reducing the deficit. right? we all agree if there is a spending program that's not working. we should get rid of it. we don't say let's get rid of that and we have to spend the exact same amount of money we're spending on a program that doesn't work on some other program. we said let's cut it to reduce the deficit. republicans, have you to pork barrel tax expenditure, their position is you can't get rid of it to reduce the deficit. you can only get rid of it to give somebody allegation tax break or lower rate somewhere else. that's the crux of the problem. >> bill: i had a chance to interview alan simpson a couple of days ago in las vegas. i asked him can you solve the whole problem with spending cuts alone? he said of course not. it is insane. >> you have to take a balanced approach. that's what the president is calling for. >> bill: congressman chris van hollen joining us. your calls welcome at 1-866-55-press. we'll be right back on the "full

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documentaries... on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: all right. 11 minutes now before the end of the hour. what a great opportunity to talk with congressman chris van hollen before he heads down to the white house with -- why don't you leave paul ryan behind and you and president obama could work this whole thing out right? >> paul and i get along very well personally. we obviously have very deep differences on the policy issues and we're now headed into budget season. so next week on the floor of the house -- sorry, next week in

committee, we will mark up the house republican budget in this case. the senate democrats are going to be moving on pretty much the same schedule. the week after next, the budgets may well be on the floor of the house and the senate. >> bill: one final question on this issue is it possible on march 27th that we could resolve the budget for the next fiscal year and get rid of the sequester at the same time? >> well, you're not going to be able to resolve the full budget. the budgets we're working on are the ten-year budgets. they have the most relevance in the upcoming fiscal year. but really, these are the blueprints for going forward and you know, the ryan budget, by all accounts is going to be even worse than the last budget in terms of its priorities as we understand it. it will double down on you know -- >> bill: whatever the solution is, can you combine that with an end to the sequester?

is that a goal here? >> well, certainly replacing the sequester is a goal. i mean this is why we've offered it four times in the house of representatives and why the senate democrats tried to do it. the timing of replacing the sequester is something we still don't know. it will certainly be part of every conversation, every negotiation. going forward. you still have a number of republicans, especially in the senate who seem very uneasy with the idea that the republican party right now is putting a priority on the special interest tax breaks. rather than investments in national security and jobs and the future. but whether or not they'll come around or when they'll come around is still an open question. what they're saying and i think this is why the president is fully engaged is that at least some of them may be willing to deal with this in a balanced way, maybe. we'll see. as part of a long-term agreement. not as a stop gap measure.

you know my personal view is that we should at least have a temporary replacement for the sequester while we of we negotiate a longer term agreement so that we don't have the damage even for a short period of time. >> bill: which would be a sensible way to go. something unusual happened in washington, d.c. yesterday congressman. we saw an actual real live filibuster. on the floor of the senate. your comment on senator paul's filibuster. >> well, look, my view is so long as we have the filibuster rule in the senate, they should be real filibusters, right? never like the country club filibuster you got to get up and go home for the weekend and put a hold on it. sometimes anonymously. in that sense i hope that to the extent we have filibusters in the senate, that we have them. the old-fashioned way. we have them. in terms of the issue i have serious questions about our drone policy.

and i believe that we should make our policy more transparent in that regard. so look, in terms of having a conversation about a big issue i think that's important. as i think we all know, the nomination will go through. probably later today. >> bill: one of the points i thought that rand paul made the most sense yesterday he said we should not be asking for memos from the white house. we ought to be giving policies to the white house. that gets back to the constitution and the war making authority. >> well, that's right. but you know in this -- the war making authority is -- and the powers between the executive and congress has been a long -- historical point of conflict and contention. obviously the president is the commander in chief. but also the constitution gives congress the power to declare war. in this modern era we have lots of murky areas where you have military engagements and so this

is going to be constantly an area of push and pull between the executive and the congress. whether you have a democratic president or a republican president. >> bill: important questions to be raised. they are being raised in the united states. congressman chris van hollen have a great lunch today. >> thank you very much. i don't know what's on the menu but i'm looking forward to it. >> bill: thanks for giving us a preview and thanks for your great leadership and work. i will be back with a quick parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." break the ice with breath-freshening cooling crystals. ice breakers.

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show."